Book Information: Arranged Marriage

For the young girls and women brought to life in these stories, the possibility of change, of starting anew, is both as terrifying and filled with promise as the ocean that separates them from their homes in India. From the story of a young bride whose fairy-tale vision of California is shattered when her husband is murdered and she must face the future on her own, to a proud middle-aged divorced woman determined to succeed in San Francisco, Divakaruni's award-winning poetry fuses here with prose for the first time to create eleven devastating portraits of women on the verge of an unforgettable transformation.

Edition #1: Arranged Marriage

"Beautifully told stories of transformed lives...Both liberated and trapped by cultural changes on both sides of the ocean, these women struggle fiercely to carve out an identity of their own." San Francisco Chronicle

"Ms. Divakaruni's stories are as irresistable as the impulse that leads her characters to surface into maturity, raising their heads above floods of silver ignorance." New York Times Book Review

"A remarkably strong debut. The all-too-imperfect lives of Divakaruni's heroines, like precious gems, are unrecognized treasures, worthy of being praised, protected, and held dear." San Jose Mercury News

"Luminous, exquisitely crafted prose. Her Indian wives and daughters are drawn with a rich, dense detail that allows the reader to feel the silent, strong undertows directing their lives." Ms. magazine